With so many syllables in the band’s name, you would totally expect it to be an emo band or purveyors of instrumental post-rock. Although there is a bit of the former in its sound, Chapel Hill’s I Was Totally Destroying It is really a power-pop band of the sunny, upbeat…
The morning after playing a party for his high-school graduation, Josh “Reverend” Peyton woke up with severe pain in his hands. Doctors thought that Peyton, who had been playing guitar for five years, would never play again. “For almost two years, I didn’t play,” Peyton notes. “I ended up having…
When Constantines singer/guitarist Bryan Webb sits down to write lyrics, he doesn’t simply spit out the first words that occur to him and call it a day. “I definitely obsess over the little things — over syntax and even the placement of ‘the’ or ‘a’ or ‘an,'” he admits, “just…
Rock and roll has had a hefty impact on American pop culture and, consequently, our country’s identity for the past fifty years, more often than not intersecting with our politics and whatever social unrest is currently afflicting us. In honor of the Fourth of July, we picked four pivotal moments…
The 14th annual Westword Music Showcase Awards is now in the books. Holy crap! What a party! We haven’t seen that many inebriated folks in one place since…well, probably since the last party we threw that attracted dozens of the Mile High’s best musicians, several prominent radio hosts, including Alf,…
Stevie Wonder July 1, 2008 Fiddler’s Green How long has it been since Stevie Wonder performed in Denver? He headlined an intimate date at the Paramount Theatre the last time around, and I vividly remember a moment early in his set when a petite woman near the front of the…
Photo by Daniel K (not at Bender’s) Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, The Limbs, “Seven Signs” Tuesday, July 1, 2008, Benders Better than: Sunday morning mass. Down through the ages many have tried to preach the gospel from the stage. The key word being “preach.” For such a tactic to be…
On Tuesday evening just after 5 p.m., the time that Tickle Me Pink was originally slated to make an in-store appearance at Independent Records on Colfax to commemorate the release of Madeline, its eagerly awaited Wind-up Records debut, fans gathered together to pay their respects to Tickle Me Pink bassist…
Just received word that Johnny Schou, bassist for Fort Collins-based power-pop act Tickle Me Pink, was found dead this morning at his home at the age of 22. Prior to passing away, the four-stringer, a 2005 graduate of Ft. Collins High School, also worked as an assistant engineer at the…
Matson Jones. ‘Memba them? Chamber-driven badasses, named Denver’s Best New Band in 2005, signed to Sympathy for the Recording Industry, now dearly departed and all that? Yeah, pretty awesome, right? Well, we just received word that the co-ed quartet is returning to perform a pair of shows, the first on…
Photos by Aaron Thackeray. Film on the Rocks Shaun of the Dead, Boulder Acoustic Society and Michael Trundle Monday, June 30, 2008 Red Rock Amphitheatre Better Than: Watching Shaun of the Dead without fake zombies sitting behind you Shaun of the Dead was never a true cult classic: It made…
Photos by Aaron Thackeray. Warped Tour Sunday, June 29 Invesco Field at Mile High Loads o’ musicians stepped up to the microphone at Warped Tour 2008’s Denver stop — but in a very real way, the day belonged to 3Oh!3. The duo of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte made a…
Photo by Soren McCarty. Widespread Panic Friday, June 27, 2008 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Better than: Listening from the Red Rocks parking lots. I’ll just say this straight up, and all you Spreadheads can hate me if you will (and you probably will): I don’t like jam bands. More specifically, I…
Photos by Aaron Thackeray and Soren McCarty. SoCo Music Experience Saturday, June 28, 2008, Coors Field Parking Lot Better than: Drinking a shot of SoCo. So what’s the first thing that pops into your head when someone says, “Let’s go to a fest at Coors Field’s parking lot!” Your response…
Photo by Tom Murphy. Reverend Dead Eye Friday, June 27, 2008 The Continental Club, Denver Better Than: You have any reason to expect from a dive bar off Santa Fe. There might have been any number of other things to see or do on a Friday night in late June,…
Photo by Tom Murphy. Moonspeed, Ross Etherton and the Wheel Saturday, June 28, 2008 hi-dive Better Than: Every space rock show I’ve seen since last summer when Bright Channel last played. Ross Etherton opened the show with a Son House song done in his own earnest, inimitable, dignified style. For…
From: James Anthofer To: Herrera, Dave Subject: Mercury Cafe Show – Gregory Alan Isakov and Bela Karoli 6/30/2008 12:34 AM Hey Dave — I didn’t get photos for the show, and I’m not sure a review is that useful without them: The Mercury Cafe is still the same, as usual…
Locals Only Lenny Lenn is known for the work he put in as a radio personality for various radio stations across Colorado. His biggest claim to fame is being part of the launch team of the now-defunct Denver hip-hop radio station, U102. Lenny then spent some time working behind the…
The 14th annual Westword Music Showcase Awards ceremony is now in the books. Holy crap! What a party! We haven’t seen that many inebriated folks in one place since…well, probably since the last party we threw. In his Fluid review, Michael Roberts joked that “if terrorists wanted to rob Denver…
I’ve been thinking about getting a scooter. Quit laughing. My friends — perhaps mortified at the thought of seeing a gorilla like me straddling such an inferior vehicle — have all been urging me to buy a motorcycle. (Whatever, dudes. Badass doesn’t live here anymore, and cool quit taking my…
It was the kind of morphine-laden experience where I didn’t realize how bad it was until afterward,” says Achille Lauro frontman Matt Close, relating the story of his 2007 brush with mortality. “I was being more aggressive than I was prepared to be on a bike. I tried to beat…
At the beginning of True Romance, there’s a scene in which Clarence Worley (played by Christian Slater) is in a movie theater, eating popcorn and watching one of the flicks that’s part of a triple feature of Sonny Chiba kung fu movies. He’s alone, it’s his birthday, and he always…
